Early Winter
by FieryArtemis
Summary: Change was part of the game when you're the Spirit of Autumn. It kind of came along with the job and being open to change definitely helped when your boss was subject to mood swings. A short interaction between Jack Frost and Hiccup. Starring Hiccup as the Spirit of Autumn. Rise of the Brave Tangled Dragons/Big Four Crossover.


Hiccup ran his fingers over his drawing to smudge the colors on it and blend them together. As he worked, the colors on his page were mirrored by the autumn leaves above his head. There was a purring sound above his head. Hiccup looked up. His sleek black dragon, Toothless, was hanging over his shoulder and inspecting his work. "What do you think Bud?" asked Hiccup as he held his sketchbook up for the dragon to look at.

Toothless cocked his head to the side and made a rumbling sound in the back of this throat. Hiccup had known the dragon long enough to know that was his way of showing his approval. "Well, I guess we had better get to it and do some real work now huh." Hiccup smiled.

He hoisted himself to his feet, or rather his foot and metal prosthetic. There was a lot he was in the dark about, one of which was how he had lost his foot. There was also his strange abilities; the abilities that allowed him to magically control the leaves on the trees, the temperature, and the wind. Hiccup had just woke up one evening with no one but Toothless by his side and no memory but that of his name and Toothless's.

Hiccup closed his book and shoved it into his coat before turning to Toothless. The dragon was already crouched and waiting for Hiccup. Like Hiccup, Toothless was missing one of his tailfins. If there hadn't been an immediate and inexplicable bond between the two of them when Hiccup had first awoken, the fact that they were both missing something would have definitely connected the two together. As a result of Toothless missing his tailfin, he couldn't fly by himself and thus Hiccup had to help him out via a prosthetic tailfin. They'd figured out a system fairly quickly and had adapted well to the change.

Once Hiccup was mounted and his own prosthetic was connected to the controls of Toothless's prosthetic, he gave the dragon a pat on the shoulder. "Let's fly Toothless." Hiccup told the dragon before shooting into the sky.

The pair skimmed over the top of the forest, twisting and spinning as they went. The scent of fall flowed out from beneath Toothless's wings as they dipped through the air. Hiccup stretched out his hands, trusting his dragon partner to keep him from falling. With a rush of magic, the foliage changed beneath him. The vibrant greens melded into beautiful yellows, reds, and golds. The previously golden leaves transformed into a crisp brown. He didn't know much about who he was previously or how he'd come to be but what he did know was that he was change. He was the autumn.

Toothless veered upward and shot a white hot plasma blast into the sky. "Woah!" yelped Hiccup as he clutched the crest of his saddle for dear life and braced himself for the scorching heat. "Thanks for the warning you useless reptile." he grumbled as the woosh of heat passed over his head. Toothless's response was a quick, sharp hit to the side of Hiccup's head with one of ears.

Toothless threw his wings out to their full span and Hiccup quickly dropped his prosthetic to match the tailfin's controls. Hiccup looked over the side of Toothless, surveying his work below. He smiled and shrugged, "Not bad for night's work huh." Toothless roared his agreement before beating his wings to take them higher into the air. Hiccup twisted the tailfin and the pair immediately slipped off to the side in search of more trees to change.

As they sailed through the air though, something caught Hiccup's eye. Below them was a spanse of trees that Hiccup had visited just the night before. Hiccup nudged Toothless with his foot and directed him towards those trees. Just the night before the leaves had been a beautiful collection of reds and golds. Now they were just black and dried up. "Take us down Toothless." Hiccup said as he raised his eyebrow.

There was a thunk on the ground as Toothless hit the ground. Hiccup jumped off of his back and marched over to one of the trees. A sting of irritation pricked him. A thin layer of frost covered the bark of the tree in the tiny, beautiful patterns. Hiccup reached up and pulled a leaf off of the tree. It was the same thing with the leaf. Toothless growled, matching Hiccup's irritation as Hiccup crushed the leaf in his hands.

"I was almost sad to ice them." a slightly apologetic voice commented from behind him.

Hiccup threw the remains of the leaf on the ground as turned about. "What gives Frost?" he snapped, "I just changed these last night!"

Jack Frost smiled impishly, "So did I."

"Seriously!" growled Hiccup. Toothless hissed and stalked forward towards Jack. Jack took a step back.

"Easy, dragon rider, easy. Call your friend off." laughed Jack. Hiccup shook his head and laid his hand on Toothless's side. Toothless paused his forward movement and turned to look at Hiccup.

"It's the way this thing works, bud." Hiccup told the dragon. "Though c'mon Jack. Did you really have to ice them so early? They didn't even have a chance to fall. The kids love it when they do that. They get a kick out of jumping in them. I thought you were all about the fun Mr. Guardian."

Jack held up his hands, "Don't look at me. This order came directly from Mother Nature herself and what she wants…"

"She gets." Hiccup finished for him. They as well as the Spirits of Spring and Summer knew the creed of their finicky and temperamental boss. Mother Nature was the law of nature. She controlled all.

Jack reached out a comforting yet cold hand. "I really did mean what I said about being hesitant to frost them. They were beautiful. Probably your best work of the season Hic."

"Don't call me that," Hiccup reiterated to Jack for the umpteenth time, "and thanks. I appreciate that. So I guess Mother Nature is going for an early and long winter this year."

"Yep, guess so. Rapunzel isn't going to be thrilled with Merida, stealing some of her spring thunder down in the Southern hemisphere. Mother Nature wants and early summer too." Jack smirked as he leaned on his staff.

Hiccup rolled his eyes to hide the fact that he was smiling, "Definitely wouldn't want to be in the middle of that fight. Can you say torrential down pour."

"Punzie needs to keep that in check. So what are you going to be doing with your time off this year?"

"Probably going to head back to the North. Hang out on the bluffs of those little islands scattered throughout the Greenland Sea."

"Sheesh, are you sure you don't want to go somewhere warmer. Sometimes I think you're in the market to become a winter sprite."

Hiccup shot Jack a glare, "You wish Snowman. It would give you another reason to boss me around."

"Hey! I would be a good boss!"

"Yeah, and Toothless is cute and fluffy." sniffed Hiccup. The comment was met with another whack from Toothless, this time on the arm. Hiccup rubbed his arm and shot a glare at the Night Fury. "So how's being a Guardian treating you?" asked Hiccup.

Jack shrugged but the look on his face told Hiccup that there was nothing nonchalant about his attitude. "I gotta admit, it's pretty nice."

"You're crazy dream come true." added Hiccup.

"It's nice to be seen. You should try it some time."

A slight uneasiness settled into the pit of Hiccup's stomach. "Nah, I'm fine. I'm pretty used to being unseen and for me it isn't so bad."

Jack laughed, "Whatever you say Hic."

"Again, don't call me that!" Hiccup repeated in agitation. Jack laughed loudly and snowflakes began fall from the sky. Hiccup shook his head. "I need to get going, especially if Mother Nature wants an early winter. Lots of leaves need changing. Lots of fruits and vegetables need ripening."

Hiccup turned and mounted Toothless. Jack jumped forward. "Hiccup, I really am sorry about ruining your work."

Hiccup rolled his shoulders, " Don't worry about it Frost. It's the way things work. I'm used to it. Change is a part of autumn. I'm good when it comes to change. Just try not to piss Bunny off with another white Easter."

"Ahh! C'mon! Bunny loves it when I give him a nice blanket of snow to hide his eggs in." quipped Jack.

"I'm pretty certain that all those pink and blue eggs stick out like sore thumbs in the snow. Not to mention the fact that Bunny can barely stand still on the snow without dancing."


End file.
